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10. Layering 

Aaron Nace, 2019

Double exposure photography is an example of layering since different images are layered and overlap in one piece

11. Mixing codes

12. Re-contextualizing

This installation is an example of a decontextualization of public art in a museum setting

Jean Shin, “Worn Soles”, 2001 - (all photos by Joseph Hu and courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2018)

13. Confronting the gaze

14. Facing the abject

Jenny Saville, oil on canvas, 1993

15. Constructing Identities

16. Using narratives

17. Creating metaphors

18. Irony, parody, and dissonance

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6. Appropriating

Eugenia Loli Mind Alteration Collages are an example of appropriation by taking pre-existing photographs and creating a collage.

7. Simulating

This is an accurate example of simulacra art because it is a modification of an original photographed portrait. 

8. Hybridizing

“Muslim Barbie” is an example of cultural hybridity because it takes an iconic American commodity representative of Eurocentric beauty ideals and applies a Hijabi.

9. Mixing media

Sara Berti’s sculptures use various materials like string, found objects, paper, paint, etc. I think this is a great example of mixed media art.

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1. Escaping the confines of museums

I chose a performance piece by Valie Export in which she created a wearable box fashioned as a “theatrical stage” and invited strangers to put their hands passed the curtains and inside the box to feel her breasts. The piece is said to examine the relationship between violence and eroticism and challenged boundaries between privacy, women’s bodies, and public spectacle.

Valie Export, “ Tapp und Tastkino [Tap and Touch Cinema],” 1968

2. Collapsing boundaries between "high" and "low"

Ernest Pignon-Ernest has made the street both the setting and subject for his artwork since the 1960s. He uses wheatpasted images to express deep and radical social and political commentary.

Ernest Pignon-Ernest, “Prisons” 

3. Rejecting originality

I think any sort of generic pop art would represent “rejecting originality” well. For example, the style was used in political propaganda, whether in support of the war machine or as an expression of political dissent. Pop art, to me, is a representation of commodity and commercialism. Militarism, for example, rejects individuality and promotes a cohesive and violent sameness to further a single agenda. I think this piece represents “rejecting originality” since it’s mass produced

4. Jouissance

After reading this section of the chapter, I admittedly struggled to find something that I felt would be relevant and appropriate (especially since I don’t have a background in art, at all). I finally decided on two projects, one is an audio work and one is visual - however, for the sake of brevity, I’ll just share the audio piece (knowing full well this is a 4d class). I may be misunderstanding the level of eroticism in “jouissance,” and may be taking it too literally, but as I read “being so lost in a work of art that they lose all self-awareness and objective distance from the work” in the chapter, I immediately was reminded of a website called Orgasm Sound Library. I would absolutely consider this a work of art as it’s a project that seeks to break down social barriers surrounding female sexuality, intimacy, and pleasure. It’s a collective work open to the public seeking to “explore the prejudices and taboos that influence and condition our sexual behaviour, such as the fictional view of sex and female masturbation” by providing a platform where anyone can upload an audio recording of their orgasms. The quasi interactive element of this project dissolves the barrier between participant and viewer/listener because it invites you into an intimate and vulnerable space/time where someone is expressing pleasure they feel, thus collapsing boundaries between strangers, and the private and public spheres.

5. Working collaboratively

When I think of collaborative works, I think of, controversy aside, Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party” which took the help of many volunteer artists.

Judy Chicago, “The Dinner Party,” mixed media, 1975

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Postmodernist art-making strategies

“Post modernism refers to both a period of time in a web of ideas, both of which resist specificity.” Much of postmodernist theory originated from French theorists’ (like Foucault) analysis of history, culture, identity, representation, and language. It is said that post modernist ideas continually influence all of the humanities, literature in particular. While modernists center around freedom and individuality, postmodernists tend to be more pessimistic in their beliefs about society and the future of humanity, often nihilistic. Postmodernists express skepticism about individual freedoms and argue that our freedoms are limited by society, i.e. “our actions are constrained by social context.” While some postmodernists feel hopeless and pessimistic, many remain focused on social struggles, similar to the original goals of many modernists. To further recap the chapter, a list of major movements of modern art include “impressionism, post impressionism, symbolism, fauvism, cubism, expressionism, dada, bauhaus, Surrealism, abstract expressionism, color field painting, pop art, op art, hard edge painting, Russian formalism, minimalism, photo realism, art photography, socially motivated journalist photography.” On the flipside, postmodern artists adopt approaches to abstraction rather than realistic representation which brought freedom and variety of expression to the art world. To further cover postmodern attitudes toward art and beyond, we discover that postmodern art culture expands far beyond the artists themselves and consists of “museum directors, gallery owners and dealers, exhibition designers, publicists, connoisseurs, estimators, security guards, museum and independent curators, art critics, art collectors, art historians, art conservators and restorers, editors, writers, and advertisers.” With this in mind, we can recognize why, in terms of money, power, and social control, folks like Chuck Close express a deep criticism of the art market. The chapter then discusses how to escape the confines of museums and traditional venues like galleries. As well as how many have managed to collapse the boundaries between “high“ and “low“ art. Comparatively speaking, postmodern artists continue to collapse those boundaries while, historically, modernists generally affix a “higher” meaning to art, believing that it “ transcends ordinary life” in that art does not represent or relate to “low culture” artifacts like “cheap, tasteless, and tacky things often associated with middle and lower class visual preferences” — moving into strategies for making art for postmodern artists, we see collaborative and stimulating approaches to methods and mediums like mixed media, using narratives, creating metaphors, using irony + parody, and confronting the gaze - all of which further the dialogue creating a more rich and diverse landscape from which to create and challenge social norms.